By Andrew Warshaw
September 25 – A clear and potentially damaging split within FIFA’s own ethics committee over the inquiry into possible corruption surrounding the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid process has been exposed just as the leaders of football’s world governing body meet for one of its most eagerly awaited sessions.
Fresh comments by FIFA’s chief investigator Michael Garcia (pictured left), who recently delivered his 430-page report after a two-year investigation, have put him in direct opposition to the German judge responsible for proposing penalties against anyone found guilty of wrongdoing.
Hans-Joachim Eckert (pictured right), who heads the adjudicatory arm of FIFA’s ethics committee, has made it clear that Garcia’s report will not be published in full, whatever ultimate disciplinary verdicts he might hand down next April. This is despite growing calls for disclosure from a number of FIFA powerbrokers.
Garcia, who heads the investigatory chamber of the ethics committee, has now stepped up the pressure by issuing a strongly-worded challenge to Eckert’s stance and implying that his probe will be less impactful if the report by his investigative team is kept secret.
“Given the limited role Mr. Hans-Joachim Eckert envisions for the Adjudicatory Chamber, I believe it is now necessary for the FIFA Executive Committee to authorise the appropriate publication of the Report on the Inquiry into the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cup Bidding Process,” said a statement on behalf of the former US attorney.
“Publication would be consistent with statements made by a number of Executive Committee members, with the view recently expressed by Independent Governance Committee Chair Mark Pieth, and with the goals of the reform process.”
The difference of opinion between the two most important officials within FIFA’s ethics mechanism threatens to overshadow FIFA President Sepp Blatter’s planned announcement to his executive committee that he will definitely be standing for a fifth term of office next May.
Blatter made his position public in a taped interview a couple of weeks ago but is keen to provide his inner sanctum with more detail about his reasons for wanting to remain in power.
The veteran Swiss seems bound, however, to be quizzed by members of the exco over the back-and-forth comments.
Last Friday, both Garcia and Eckert appeared at a FIFA-hosted ethics conference and gave different views of the FIFA Code of Ethics confidentiality rules which bind their work. Garcia said it was a “disservice” to football fans skeptical of FIFA that they might never be told which senior officials, if any, had been charged, and with which offenses. But Eckert interprets the rules more cautiously, rules that limit public disclosure to his judgments.
Garcia’s latest remarks are being viewed by some as a veiled threat that he may quit his independent role. Whether Blatter or his 27-member exco will grant Garcia’s wish for full disclosure is certain to form part of an eagerly anticipated news conference following the two-day exco session in Zurich.
In the build-up to the meeting, three FIFA vice presidents – Jeffrey Webb of the Cayman Islands, Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein of Jordan and Jim Boyce of Northern Ireland – all backed Garcia’s views.
“I have stated on many occasions that if people have nothing to hide they should have no problem with the results of this inquiry becoming public knowledge,” said Boyce.
Similarly, the head of the US soccer federation, Sunil Gulati said: “If we’re going to truly support the idea of transparency and change within FIFA, (the report) has to be made public in the truest meaning of the word. That doesn’t mean only to the executive committee. It has to be more. Right now, the whole story is not about what’s in the report but whether it should be made public. And that isn’t ideal for anyone.”
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